


II - Thin Ice

by Lost_Light



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27837100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Light/pseuds/Lost_Light
Summary: Degen-4 faces the Pyramid on Europa.





	II - Thin Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the #Destcember2020 drawing & writing challenge based on #Destiny universe.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

**Shadow of the Pyramid, Beyond, Europa**

The ice cracked beneath Degen-4 as the probe bit down into the perma-frost, rooting itself and swivelling automatically toward the dark cut that stabbed into the gut of Jupiter on the Horizon. Enki hated being the close and Degen didn’t like it much more, but then Zavala hadn’t given them much choice. 

Degen thought of the Vanguard Commander as he rose, shouldering his Night Watch and starting the long circumference around the pyramid to the next quadrant. Zavala seemed drawn, he’d never seen eye to eye with the man but there was something disconcerting about seeing him so wearied by a fight he’d carried on for so long.

Then again it had all seemed easier when the Darkness was an existential terror. A thing that seemed like a bogeyman. Having something before you was, in Degen’s experience, the first step in robbing it of the power of fear. Make it known and it becomes something you can control. The Darkness had rather unmade that axiom. The closer they got the less control he felt like he had.

There before him on the ice field was their enemy and he didn’t understand a damn thing about them.

His feet crunched across the sparse snow. The Europan storms sent drifts migrating over the ice mantle, forming small hills that rested against themselves until the next storm sent them moving again, caught bvy the wind and borne to their next resting place. He took a moment to rest by one when he saw the Dreg.

Their colours said House Salvation, remnants of Eramis’ nascent empire. He assumed at first they must have been out here on patrol, yet they bore no weapon. Their body was hard, stiffened by rigor and the freezing temperatures, coiled into the fetal position around a cloth bundle that Degen had to work to pull from their grasp.

“What is it?” Enki, his Ghost asked, forming in the air before him. The petals of his shell bore a swirl of stars that formed a constellation Degen recognised as  _ inquisitive _ .

“Not sure.” He answered, glancing toward the shadow of the Pyramid.

The bundle crunched as it unfurled. Degen-4 saw within the things he expected; a pistol, a spare charge pack, and Ether rations rimed with frost. Finally a small bundle of scrap cloth inside marked with a sigil he recognised, the Fallen word for Winter, and what seemed to be a ball carved of worn stone. Degen picked it up and turned it over in his hand, recognising the markings on it. Not words as he’d initially assumed, it was a statue.

“The Traveller.” Enki said reverentially.

“It seems not all of Eramis’ followers forsook their Great Machine.” Degen said.

“And see the price of such devotion.” His own voice answered.

He snatched his rifle from the ground and span, bringing the weapon to bear on his reflection stood in the lengthening darkness of the Pyramid. The Darkness did not flinch, it wore a smirk in Degen’s own features.

“It is good to see you again Degen-4.” The Darkness said. “Perhaps we can continue the conversation we began on Mars.”

“Say what you have to say.” Degen said.

“We ask only that you be mindful of what you have seen here.” The Darkness gestured to the Dreg. “The Light requires devotion, sacrifice, death. It abandoned them, as you know it will abandon you. The Light will not save you from itself.”

“It will save me from you.” Degen said.

He let his light coil around his fist and drew it inside, creating a twist of Void light which he hurled straight at his doppelganger. It sailed through the air, a streaking bolt of void light that wavered then fizzled before it even reached the shadow. His reflection stood for a moment, considering the display then turned on its heel and began to walk toward the Pyramid.

Degen raised his rifle but didn’t fire. He watched the shadow fade away into the twilight of the Pyramid until he was alone with his Ghost on the ice sheet.

“Trust takes time.” The Darkness said casually in his ear. “You may seek us when you are ready. The choice we give that your Traveller never did.”


End file.
